Get Over It, You’re Not Special

by Les May

LAST Evening a lady I’ll call ‘Dot’, who is approaching the age of 70 and my wife’s oldest friend, sent a text to tell her that she, Dot, would no longer be able to take communion at her church.

You see Dot is a Roman Catholic who is divorced and not wishing to spend the rest of her life alone has remarried. Someone snitched to the priest, who passed it up the management hierarchy and was given the answer that Dot could no longer take communion. This may not be a big deal for most NV readers, but for Dot it is devastating.

Taking a dim view of what some people get up to in the privacy of their bedroom is not confined to to the Roman Catholic church. The parsons at the two Anglican churches nearest to where I live differed in the views about re-marrying divorced people. One would, the other would not. No doubt there are individual Christians who also take a dim view of remarriage.

There’s a lesson to be learned here by those who self identify with the LGBT ‘community’ and it’s ever expanding label set, and who are tempted to wrap themselves in the robes of victimhood whenever some prelate or zealot expresses a dim view of their lifestyle. They might like to take note that they are not special at all. It happens to so called ‘straight’ people too. I estimate that the number of divorced people who have ended up feeling like second class humans by the rules about remarriage exceeds by several orders of magnitude the number of LGBT (etc) who have suffered more than hurt feelings at the hands of Christians.

One thing I think we can say with some certainty is that people like Dot are never going to maliciously approach a cake making company run by people who think remarriage is wrong and insist that they make a wedding cake.

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Boris Johnson & Bottom on a Midsummer Night!

Spot the difference?

by Brian Bamford

IT is difficult not to compare Boris Johnson's current plight and his lover's 'tiff' to that of the weaver Nick Bottom in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. Jan Moir in yesterday's Daily Mail wrote: 'Amid this velvety foliage, the star crossed couple sat at a teak table, one that was as weathered as time itself.' Of Boris and his lover Carrie Symonds, who following their altercation posed photographed playing footsie under the green wood trees in Sussex, Ms. Moir adds: 'Their secluded garden was suitably fecund with 50 shades of green, in a sanctuary that had grown as wild as their crazy stupid love.'

The scene is so remarkably reminiscent of the famous Shakespeare play!

Of Nick Bottom see what one pundit writes:

'Whereas Puck’s humor is often mischievous and subtle, the comedy surrounding the overconfident weaver Nick Bottom is hilariously overt. The central figure in the subplot involving the craftsmen’s production of the Pyramus and this be story, Bottom dominates his fellow actors with an extraordinary belief in his own abilities (he thinks he is perfect for every part in the play) and his comical incompetence (he is a terrible actor and frequently makes rhetorical and grammatical mistakes in his speech).  The humor surrounding Bottom often stems from the fact that he is totally unaware of his own ridiculousness; his speeches are overdramatic and self-aggrandizing, and he seems to believe that everyone takes him as seriously as he does himself.  This foolish self-importance reaches its pinnacle after Puck transforms Bottom’s head into that of an ass.  When Titania, whose eyes have been anointed with a love potion, falls in love with the now ass-headed Bottom, he believes that the devotion of the beautiful, magical fairy queen is nothing out of the ordinary and that all of the trappings of her affection, including having servants attend him, are his proper due.  His unawareness of the fact that his head has been transformed into that of an ass parallels his inability to perceive the absurdity of the idea that Titania could fall in love with him.'

Nick Bottom and Boris Johnson are, it seems, like as two peas in a pod.

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A DEFENCE OF TOMMY ROBINSON

by Green Swiper

Editor:  Some weeks ago we were given a report which suggested that the Tommy Robinson campaign may have been provided with funds from a pro-Israel lobby.  We decided to take it down because we considered it may have been defamatory.  We publish the comment below by Green Swiper because we believe in free expression, not because we support all of the sentiments expressed.

*******

THE 'I HATE TOMMY ROBINSON' bandwagon is groaning under the weight of self-righteous 'civic and faith leaders'.  It is being pushed along by drivelling politicians and subservient social-media outlets.  All of them have jumped on board to court public approval, curry favour and safeguard their own ratings.  They seem to be saying:  'Look at us.  We’re all on message.  Come and join our feeding-frenzy, er, popular alliance.'  

If those cringing sycophants carry on down that road, their wheels will come off and then they will be embarrassed.   It’s another case of  'The Emperor’s New Clothes'.   They are “posing in the altogether” and most onlookers will clearly see 'what’s what'.   They claim to be against 'hate crime and hate speech etc', but they seem to think it’s alright to hate Robinson.   That’s flagrant double standards and bullying.   Isn’t it?

Robinson is a beacon of light.   He is boldly leading the way out of the alien multicultural gloom of 21st century Britain.   He actually represents the silent, invisible majority of British people: probably about 90%.   It’s true.   Some of those same British people wearily tried to express their anxieties by voting for BREXIT.   Where did that get them?

Why don’t we try another test?   We never had a vote on multiculturalism.   We could ask people somewhat belatedly in a referendum:  'Would you like to replace your civilised British monoculture with multiple primitive foreign cultures?'   Everybody knows what the answer would be.   That’s why it will never be allowed to happen, and that’s why our so-called 'civic and faith leaders' are trying to snuff-out Robinson‘s candle.

Readers ought to watch the relevant Robinson videos.   It’s all there on the Net.   They will see him standing on a trailer talking to British people while dozens, if not hundreds, of masked Pakistanis are hurling missiles at them.   A thin blue line of police officers are trying to hold back the demonstrators.

Why do Pakistanis think that they have the right to prevent a British man from talking to British people in Britain?

Britain is supposed to be democratic yet anybody like Robinson who has a different opinion from the smudged Conservative, Liberal, Labour coalition is denied a platform by the 'Thought Police' and the 'PC Brigade'.  Our imposed 'civic and faith leaders' accuse him of being hateful, racist, intolerant, controversial and far-right.   I say thanks, but no thanks for the implants.   Please may we be allowed to make up our own minds?

Stop persecuting Robinson.   Give him a platform.   Let him speak.

**********

"Don't Switch Us Off" - Protest outside Media City 12 noon Friday 21 June!

Dear All,

DEMAND GOVERNMENT FUNDS LICENCE FEE FOR PEOPLE OVER 75

Don't Switch Us Off, 12 noon, Friday 21 June, MediaCity, Salford

We are making our protest at Media City. this Friday. Our banner will be joined by Salford Trades Council, Unite Community branch, PCS ARMS branch and others.  There will be protests at local BBC offices across the country. As the National Pensioners Convention says 'I f we fail to protect this concession, the government will begin looking at the winter fuel allowance and the bus pass.'    See below. 

There is a tram to from Piccadilly (Eccles tram) to Media City, also Stagecoach No 50 and GNW ( ex First) No 53,

In solidarity,

Geoff

Beech Hill School Gambia Day

by John Walker

BEECH Hill Community Primary School, Luton - which is twinned with Sohm Lower Basic school - recently held their second "Gambia Day" and raised over £2,000 for their linked school in The Gambia.

Beech Hill's 2019 Gambia Day: some of the pupils  "modelling" African masks we took for the occasion,  all suitably dressed in Gambian flag colours, and  supervised by SSS's Sandra Walker,  sporting her Gambian top

It was a "non-uniform" day in the school, and pupils were encouraged to go dressed in the red, blue and green colours of The Gambian flag. Sandra and John Walker, of Sohm Schools Support lead assemblies for the 900 pupils at the school, and were in attendance all day, sharing stories and watching the Luton children hard at work

Beech Hill pupils, hard at work,  creating Gambian flags

The day's school work was turned over to Gambia-related topics, as students wrote postcards home to their parents, based on an imaginary holiday in the tourist country of The Gambia. Other children drew and painted African scenes, from materials shown to them by our charity and accessed on the internet. There were African dance, song and story telling sessions; and at the end of the day some of the pupils' parents sold curries and other food, from donated products, with the proceeds going to the Gambian school.

Painting and cutting out masks

Over £2,000 was raised on the day, bringing the total fund raising efforts of Beech Hill's pupils, parents and staff to over £8,000 over the last two years.

Natalie Carson, deputy head of Beech Hill said: "The Sohm story has really captured the imagination of our pupils and parents, who have been delighted to help. I visited the school in The Gambia about 5 years ago, and know what a huge difference our students' efforts will make to improving the educational chances of these African youngsters. The Gambia work is great for extending our children's education and appreciation of the ways of life of people their same age in other countries."

Some of the staff at Beech Hill have recently put a huge amount of work into creating an exhibition for the school's foyer, showing pupils and parents, alike, the results of some of the school-twinning.

Beech Hill's Sohm exhibition -  pride of place in the school foyer

The exhibition shows: Sohm and Luton's youngsters work celebrating the twinning. There are "before" and "after" photos of the difference Luton's fund-raising has made to projects in Sohm. There are press cuttings of some of the excellent coverage Beech Hill has received from Luton Today.

A key feature of the exhibit is the "building blocks of progress", this shows how far Beech Hill has come in raising its target of £10,000 for The Gambian school. Sohm School Support trustee, Sandra Walker said: 

We are able to get "matched funding" from others for Beech Hill's efforts, which means we can soon start construction on our most ambitious project: a 30 metre hall and kitchen for Sohm Lower Basic school. This will replace a dangerous and dilapidated dining hall that was not fit for purpose.

And ... the money raised by Beech Hill,  to date - in excess of £8,000 - well placed  to hit their £10,000 target by 2020.

The new building will be multi-functional and act as a dining hall, gym, meeting room, assembly hall, prayer room and the village's first community hall. It will last until the Beech Hill students are themselves parents of primary school pupils in Luton. What a fabulous present and legacy they are giving to their Gambian friends! 

Meanwhile, we undertake to keep you updated, as progress is made on the construction of the new building and hope to be there for its opening in the new year, which we will record and share on this site. 

John Walker 07954 153 305 Gambia stuff: www.SohmSchoolsSupport.org.uk @GambiaSchools Forest Gate stuff: www.E7-NowAndThen.org, @E7_NowAndThen

BBC targeted by protesters over plan to end free TV licenses!

Ricky Tomlinson says Government should fund free TV licenses

THE next likely Conservative Prime Minister, Boris Johnson says he wants to cut taxes for the rich by £10bn pounds. The Tories therefore have their eye on cutting free bus passes for the elderly, winter fuel allowances and free TV licenses for the over 75s, in order to pay for tax cuts for the rich. Despite promising to guarantee free TV licenses for the over 75s until the next General Election in May 2022, they have reneged on this saying it was a cut and paste error in the Manifesto and have given the BBC the responsibility for providing free TV licenses. The BBC have said they will only provided free TV licenses for certain groups such as the over 75s in receipt of pension credit. 

"The National Pensioners Convention (NPC) is calling on local pensioner groups, trade unions, community groups, students, members of the public, MPs and councillors to make a stand on Friday 21 June against:

1. The BBC’s decision to means-test the TV licence for older people

2. The Government’s decision to make the BBC pay for the concession

We are therefore asking campaigners to gather outside their local BBC at 12 noon next Friday to take part in a protest during the lunchtime. Attached you will find a simple black and white A4 poster which we are asking people to print out at home and stick to a piece of cardboard – so that you can take it along to the demo. Local banners and placards are of course also welcome, along with whistles, drums and other instruments.

The NPC is absolutely clear – if we fail to protect this concession, the government will begin looking at the winter fuel allowance and the bus pass. That’s why we need as big a demonstration as possible out on the street next Friday.

If you are intending to organise a demonstration, please let us have the details via info@npcuk.org. Thanks for your support."

Neil Duncan-Jordan

National Officer

NPC

VICTORY FOR COUNCIL WORKER ACCUSED OF ANTI-SEMITISM!

Marxist Stan Keable

I'm pretty sure that one of the things that unites Brexit and Donald Trump supporters, is an abhorrence to what is termed 'political correctness'. People are sick to the back teeth of being told what they can or cannot say or what they can or cannot think by  politically correct dipsticks, and it has led to a kind of reactionary backlash, in both the U.S. and UK. It's a kind of creeping and subtle form of totalitarianism, that is intolerant to free speech.

Christian's who have objected to gay marriage or to gay people adopting children on religious grounds are denounced as homophobic or told they must submit to a kind of 'Maoist' re-education, known as equality and diversity training, or have been dragged through the courts. Parents are told that they cannot exempt their five-year-old tots from classes in same sex relationships and this has led to protests outside schools. 

What lies behind much of this negation in freedom, is the notion that there is a set of liberal social values and language that aims not to offend minorities, is all inclusive, none discriminatory, and which we must all subscribe to, as members of society. Just to suggest that something is sexist, racist, or homophobic, is guaranteed to stop debate dead in its tracks. It's almost as though the lunatics have taken over the insane asylum. And it now applies to the ruckus about anti-Semitism, both in, and outside, the Labour Party. Whereas not long ago, anti-Semitism meant simply hostility to or prejudice against Jews - which is real enough -  it now seems to encompass almost anything that is deemed offensive to the State of Israel and people are losing their jobs, because they have expressed opinions, critical of Israel and Zionism in general. 

In May 2018, I reported on the case of Stan Keable, a London council worker who was suspended by his employer Hammersmith & Fulham Council, after claiming that Zionists "collaborated" with the Nazis. 

Keable, a  Left-wing activist and environmental enforcement officer, had shared a tweet on Twitter in March 2018 while attending a counter demonstration outside Parliament protesting that Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, had been unfairly smeared as an anti-Semite. The Board of Deputies of British Jews, had organised a demonstration against 'anti-Semitism' in Parliament Square. He was removed from his duties as an environmental enforcement officer after writing:

“The Nazis were anti-Semitic. The problem I’ve got is the Zionist government at the time collaborated with them. They accepted the ideas that Jews are not acceptable here.”

A council spokesperson said that Keable had been suspended  while an investigation was carried out and that the council "does not tolerate anti-semitism." His trade union, UNISON, told Stan to plead guilty and to plead mitigation. He was subsequently dismissed and claimed unfair dismissal. 

Although Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention of Human Rights, guarantee freedom of assembly and freedom of speech, and Keable was attending a demonstration in his own free time, Hammersmith & Fulham Council, claimed that Keable had expressed views that were contrary to the Council's "Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy" and the Council's Code of Conduct. The council's charges against him were:

"That, in attending a counter demonstration outside the Houses of Parliament on the 26th March 2018, you knowingly increased the possibility of being challenged about your views and subsequently proceeded to express views that were in breach of the Council’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy and the Council’s Code of Conduct."

"That you made inappropriate comments which were subsequently circulated on social media which are deemed to be insensitive and likely to be offensive and potentially in breach of the Equality Act 2010 and/or the Council’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy."

The Central London Employment Tribunal, recently upheld Stan Keable's claim for unfair dismissal both procedural and substantive. The Judgement has not yet been put online but it took two hours to read out. At the time of writing, it is not known if Stan Keable also intends to take legal action against his trade union UNISON, who have questions to answer.

Review: Hobson's Choice at Manchester

by Brian Bamford

HOBSONS CHOICE= एक ही विकल्प (pr. {ek hi vikalp} )(Noun)
ROYAL EXCHANGE 

Hobson's Choice by Harold Brighouse.  

In a new adaptation by Tanika Gupta. 

Directed by Atri Banerjee

'HOBSON's CHOICE' has historically come to represent 'a choice of taking what is offered or nothing at all; lack of an alternative'

The original play was drafted in outline by Stanley Houghton, who with Anne Horniman, the tea heiress, worked together to create the so called Manchester School at the then Gaiety Theatre at the junction of Mount Street and Peter Street.  After he died in December 1913, his friend Harold Brighouse reassembled Houghton's plays from his notebooks, and he wrote a new piece using Houghton's original title.

The most powerful figure in the play is Maggy Hobson [Durga Hobson at the Royal Exchange] who is in conflict with her father, and she captures control of the situation by drawing the artisan tailor [Ali Mossop at the Exchange] under her spell and manipulating him in her war with her own father Henry Horatio Hobson [Hari Hobson at the Exchange].

I must confess that I had some misgivings when I went to see this play and I asked the publicity officer Paula Rabbitt, if we would be hearing any Lancashire accents on the night.  I ought not to have worried, it was a fine production adapted by Tanika Gupta.

Albert G. Andrews who took on the role of Mr. Hobson when it was first performed in 1915, wasn't an Eccles lad, but the as the program says:  'but then few professional actors were at that point in time'.  But as the program also says:  'This was a period when it was still perfectly acceptable for an actor playing a regional character to get away with a vague stab at the appropriate accent.' 

It is pointed out that 'Even Dick Van Dyke as a would-be Cockney chimney-sweep in MARY POPPINS was 50 years in the future.'  And we learn that 'Consequently, though many actors were northern, few of them were from anywhere near Salford.'  Even Wilfred Pickles who hailed from Halifax in West Yorkshire developed an enduring relationship with the play, and he took the role of William Mossop [Ali Mossop in the Exchange play].

I ought to say that Esh Alladi as Ali Mossop the hard working tailor at the Royal Exchange played a good part, he has to develop a spine within the play and ultimately take on tho boss.  The dynamic of the play is presented as a case of a deserving hard worker who becomes victorious but with tho aid of a strong woman.  In this way Ali Mossop grows in stature in the play, yet the most comic element is where Ali asks for the advice of his male friends on how to perform on his wedding night and looks for prompts on what to do.  In the end he is told to let nature take its course.

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Esther McVey and Alphabet Soup

by Les May

IN a former life I was responsible for the science programme taught in the first two years of secondary school.   At the end of the first year, when the children were already or almost twelve years old, there was a module on sexual reproduction which dealt with plants, fish, frogs, birds and mammals, which of course included humans.  In other words it was ‘sex education’ and not ‘relationship education’, or as some might prefer to say, about procreation not recreation.

More than 3000 youngsters followed this programme and to the best of my knowledge there were no complaints from parents. At least some of the parents were of a religious persuasion, including Jehovah’s Witnesses, Baptists, URC and Anglican.   I cannot be sure of course, but I think the reason was that the topic was considered entirely appropriate for children of that age.

Esther McVey, who sees herself as Tory Prime Minister material, has suggested that parents should have full control to determine what is ‘age appropriate’ and be allowed to remove children from relationship and sex education classes until they are 16 years old.   This is against a background of months of protest by parents at a Birmingham primary school which teaches what it calls LGBT-inclusive relationship lessons. Predictably McVey has been accused of being ‘homophobic’. This is just another example of the ‘alphabet soup’ tail trying to wag the dog.  What McVey is suggesting would apply equally well to lessons about heterosexual activities.

Words like transphobic and homophobic are thrown around with the same gay abandon as the words racist, fascist and nazi. In both cases it is a form of intellectual laziness used by those determined to avoid having to engage in rational discussion.

Are relationship lessons, LGBT-inclusive or not, age appropriate for primary school children?  Discuss!

Justice Posponed is Justice Denied!

 Brian Higgins dies before Unite does its duty!

NV Editor: ON this Blog we recently reported

that Private Eye had revealed that bricklayer 

Brian Higgins, a blacklisted trade unionist in the building 

trade, had given evidence that some union officials had

been a font of information in fingering militants. One

such is alleged to be Jerry Swain, now a Unite national

officer.  That was last month's news on this Blog, and we 

regret to announce below the news from Dave Smith of

the Blacklist Support Group that Brian Higgins, the 

victim of blacklisting, is now dead.  So much for justice 

on the building sites.

************

IT is with sadness that we report the death last weekend of blacklisted bricklayer Brian Higgins, former secretary of Northampton UCATT and the the rank and file Building Worker Group.  Our sincere condolences go out to his wife Helen, his daughters, plus the rest of his family and friends. 

Brian's blacklist file starts in 1978 and ran to 49 pages, the largest held by The Consulting Association. During the miners strike, Brian was part of the Laing's Lock Out Committee, and was presented with a High Court injunction to stop picketing after he and other activists were sacked for their union activities on a building site in South London. He ignored it. 

He was also spied on by Mark Jenner, the undercover police agent provocateur from the Special Demonstration Squad, and was a core participant in the public inquiry into undercover policing. 

Brain sat on the BSG executive and spoke at our AGMs, until ill health led to him to stand down. Brian was instrumental in setting up a private meeting in Brussels with the European Commissioner Laszlo Andor, which resulted in new anti-blacklisting legislation being presented to the European parliament. 

Brian was uncompromising in his call for an independent investigation into possible union collusion in blacklisting. This is Brian in his own words, when he wrote a review for Blacklisted:

"The book says I raged against the blacklist. I did and still do. But I have to say the thing about it which angers, in fact, enrages me most, is that some full time officials undoubtedly aided and abetted blacklisting of rank and file union members and some are probably still doing this as the Blacklist continues. It is painfully obvious building employers – who regularly wined and dined full time union officials, took some on golf outings and to sporting contests, to very expensive posh hotels, and even on visits to the Naval and Military Gentlemen’s Club – would demand some things in return! After all there is no such thing as a free lunch and we’re talking about this with knobs on here! Don’t tell us that sometimes the names of site union militants and activists did not come up, and what full time officials said, in these circumstances, did not end up on some Consulting Association (CA) files. This sort of socialising, fraternising and consorting with building employers masquerading as ‘negotiations’ is corrupt and corrupting in the extreme. It’s absolutely disgusting to think that while fulltime union officials were doing this many rank and file union members were being blacklisted out of existence!"

Brian was one of the blacklisted construction workers who signed the Open Letter to UNITE calling for an investigation to be set up. It is now too late for Brian, but we hope that the UNITE EC will set up the investigation into possible collusion ASAP. 

Anyone who has heard Brain speak will remember his booming Glaswegian voice, disdain for union bureaucracy and his liberal use of industrial language. I've stood on pickets lines and attended union conference with Brian. I didn't always agree with everything Brian said (but that is not unusual in the labour movement) and internal union polemics were part of his persona, but it is undeniable that Brian was one of the leading rank and file industrial militants of his generation, who had a significant impact on trade unionism in the construction industry. 

As a fitting tribute, former bricklayer, Neil Findlay MSP submitted

Motion S5M-17548 to the Scottish Parliament titled: 

Brian Higgins - a working class hero (full text attached)

Further details to follow. Our thoughts are with his family.

Dave Smith

Blacklist Support Group

book: http://newint.org/books/politics/blacklisted-secret-war/

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNcgrNs6pB8

facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/blacklistSG/

blog: www.hazards.org/blacklistblog

SUICIDE OF MEN IN BUILDING TRADE

ONS figures 2011-2015

To coincide with this, Public Health England (PHE), Business in the Community (BITC) and Samaritans have joined forces to produce toolkits for employers on how to prevent suicide and how to minimise the impact when it does happen.

The new ONS analysis shows that suicides are less common for females than males, and that there are differences in the types of occupation where suicide is more common. For women, occupations with a high risk of suicide include nurses (23% above the national average), primary school teachers (42% above average) and those working in culture, media and sport (69% above average).

For men, low skilled labourers in construction had a risk that was 3 times higher than that the average for England; men working in skilled construction jobs also had an increased risk. Both male and female care workers have a risk of suicide that was almost twice the national average.

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Dodgy language and political debate.

George Galloway - Sacked For Alleged Antisemitism

IN a recent posting, Brian Bamford, referred to what he saw as the misuse of language in political debate.  He argued that it is extremely stupid or foolish to equate Tommy Robinson and his 'basket of deplorable's' in the English Defence League - ardent supporters of the state of Israel -  with the political systems of Italy and Nazi Germany, by describing them as Nazi or Fascist.   Likewise, while many find Donald Trump equally deplorable, he's no Fascist either.  The terms have been robbed of their real meaning of totalitarian national socialist dictatorships and are now merely used as  term of abuse. 

The same can also be applied to the term antisemitism - hostility to or prejudice against Jews.  The word is now used to conflate criticism of the state of Israel with anti-semitism and to silence and bring down critics of Israel such as George Galloway, Ken Livingstone and Peter Willsman. 

Galloway was recently sacked by talkRADIO for an allegedly anti-Semitic tweet.  He praised Liverpool's win, before adding:   'No #Israel flags on the cup! - appearing to reference Tottenham's strong links with the Jewish community.  On Monday, talkRadio terminated his weekly show. Galloway later said:  "I love Jews.  I don't like Israel.'

While Galloway holds pro-Palestinian sympathies and refuses to recognize Israel as a legitimate state, it is difficult to see how his remarks are anti-Semitic.  Historically, Tottenham Hotspur F.C. has had a significant Jewish following and Tottenham supporters, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, refer to themselves as the 'Yid Army' and have adopted 'Yid' as a badge of pride. The football club accused Galloway of being a racist despite their fans using the term 'Yid'! Are Tottenham fans also Antisemites?  Mr Galloway hit back at his former employer, tweeting:  'See you in Court guys.'

Although Ken Livingstone was accused of antisemitism, he eventually resigned from the Labour Party denying that he was anti-Semitic or had brought the party into disrepute. Livingstone's crime was to have referred to the Haavara agreement signed by the Nazi government and Zionist leadership that aided the relocation of Jews to Israel and to claim that this showed Hitler, supported Zionism.  Livingstone, also held pro-Palestinian sympathies and like Galloway was a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn.

The case of Peter Willsman is equally intriguing.  Labour suspended the NEC member over antisemitism when he claimed that the Israeli embassy had 'almost certainly' whipped up the antisemitism row within the Labour Party, which some see as a ploy to bring down the current Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.  How this remark can be construed as anti-Semitic strains credulity to the limits.  In 2017, the Labour shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, called on the government to launch an immediate inquiry into 'improper interference in our democratic politics' after the disclosure that an Israeli embassy official had plotted to "take down" UK MPs regarded as hostile.  Yet, Thornberry, was not accused of antisemitism for alleging that the Israel embassy was improperly interfering in the political affairs of this country, only Willsman, who was saying much the same thing.



If Jeremy Corbyn had even a modicum of leadership ability or even a backbone, he could have laid much of this fake antisemitism to rest long ago.  Yet he continues to bend the knee and kowtow to his detractors and those who seek undermine him. Corbyn and the public school school communists who advise and surround him, thought they could draw a line under this, by adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism, yet they were totally wrong as many predicted.  If Corbyn wants to be the next Prime Minister, he needs to grow a backbone and show some leadership.